One of the questions I’m often asked by readers is “What’s your favorite of all your books?” Which 
is a bit like asking a mother to name her favorite child and impossible to answer.

That said, I’ll admit that The Homecoming, the first in my Shelter Bay series, is very personal to me. Partly because it’s set on the magnificent Oregon coast, where my husband once bought me a bag of salt-water taffy, then proposed. Decades later, not only is the candy store still there, I’m so glad I said yes! Combining my hobbies of photography and scrapbooking, I created a video virtual tour of Shelter Bay on my website at http://joannross.com. If that red-roofed house on the tour looks familiar, it’s because Signet’s art department used it on The Homecoming’s cover.

Another question I get a lot is why I chose to write about military heroes. That’s a complex question, but one reason is that I’ve always been a sucker for a guy in uniform. When I was growing up, nearly every male I knew got drafted into the military. Even Elvis didn’t get a pass. After going through Army boot camp, he was sent to Germany, where he met a teenage Priscilla, and well, we all know how that turned out.

Along with several military men and women we’ve “adopted” through Soldiers Angels over the years, we also have two nephews in the Army — Patrick, who completed two Iraq tours and Kyle, who’s already “done” Iraq and is currently serving as a medevac in Afghanistan. Needless to say, having them in harm’s way these past years has made my High Risk books, and now my Shelter Bay stories, extremely personal.

Ongoing concern for them is also partly why I’ve returned to my more emotional family-centric romance roots after the murder and mayhem of romantic suspense. Since writing about serial killers eventually gets depressing, I’m so happy to be back telling feel-good stories about good things happening to nice, but flawed people.

Another reason I like to write about military heroes (along with a military heroine in Shattered) is because they possess something that seems to be in short supply these days – honor.

I firmly believe that a man capable of committing to something outside himself can also commit to a mate and, as a woman, I find that really appealing
The hero I like to write about doesn’t have any personal desire to create conflict or aggression, but he does possess an unwavering code that has him not hesitating to put himself in harm’s way and risk being wounded — physically, emotionally, or both — to protect, defend, and fight for what’s right. He’s self-disciplined, decisive (though he often has to battle his own internal demons, as The Homecoming’s Sex Douchett does) and along with an integrity as tough as his body, he’s unwaveringly loyal and self-confident enough to appreciate and support the equally strong woman who manages to win his guarded heart.

Many readers might be surprised to learn that I’ve been writing military heroes since I wrote a male point-of-view romance about a former Vietnam POW in the mid ‘80s, which was a groundbreaking subject for the genre and still remains on many must-read lists. Since then, though I don’t always mention the fact, most of the heroes in my books have been veterans.

One of the things I’m enjoying exploring in my Shelter Bay books is life after war. As hopefully more and more of our troops begin returning home, there are some wonderful stories waiting to be told, and I can’t wait to write some of them.

In The Homecoming, both Sax Douchett and Kara Conway have returned to their small coastal hometown seeking healing and closure. The ocean has always provided a shelter from emotional storms for me. It’s where I go to unwind and put my life in perspective, which is why I named my fictional coastal town Shelter Bay. Do you have some special place where you feel at peace? A place that, at least in your heart, feels like home?

To celebrate the book’s release day, three people who respond (chosen at random), will receive an autographed copy of The Homecoming.

Sarah Stevens examined the toe of her black, leather Prada slingback and gasped.  A huge scuff glared at her.  She sighed with relief as she wiped the spot with a tissue and restored the shoe to its original glory.  The overstuffed back seat of the Rolls Royce Silver Seraph limousine embraced her as she leaned back and glanced out the window.

“Not a bad way to get from point A to point B, huh?”

She turned to smile at Will Adams.  With their team leader, her boyfriend, Vince Hennessee missing in action, Will was in charge now.

Will dressed and carried himself like a man who had the world at his fingertips, because he did.  Will had once been a medic in the Navy but Sarah suspected there was much more to that story.  Though he began his career as a Corpsman, Sarah suspected he did a bit more than first aid to make the rank of Master Chief before he left the service for a position on Task Force 125.  He was the team’s second in command, capable of finding any supplies they needed on a moment’s notice.  With Vince missing, the entire team fell in line behind him without question.  He’d also worked undercover with Vince for years as an arms dealer.

Sarah took comfort in Will’s leadership and grasped the glimmer of hope she saw in his baby blue eyes.  They would find Vince and recover him before any harm came to him.

Will nodded slightly toward the front of the limousine.  “There it is, the Burj al Arab, Dubai’s crown jewel.”

Sarah’s jaw dropped.  She gawked at the glorious structure rising majestically over the water ahead of them as they drove along the causeway.

She remembered just over a year ago when she was an overweight Air Force cop with no future.  She gave thanks that her commander realized her potential and referred her to what she thought was a fat camp.  That weight loss program turned out to be one of the C.I.A.’s training farms for paramilitary operatives.  Little did she know at the time that losing her police job, her cheating boyfriend, and seventy-five pounds would make it possible for her to ride in Rolls Royce limos wearing Prada and Versace, not to mention the pearls around her neck that cost more than her car.  She fingered them lovingly and recalled with a smile the day Vince gave her the necklace.

As though he’d read her mind, Will smiled his winning smile.  “You’ve come a long way, baby.”

They pulled up at the curb in front of the seven star hotel and Sarah sighed.  “Yes, I have.”

Jason hopped out of the front passenger seat and opened Sarah’s door for her.  “Welcome to Oz.”  He beamed with his trademark Cheshire cat grin.  Anyone  who saw Jason would think he was happy to be staying at the glorious Burj al Arab but Sarah knew better.

Jason Williams, the former Green Beret and the team’s weapons specialist, was always spoiling for a fight and he knew he was going to have a big one when they took Vince back.  Since she’d joined the team, Sarah and Jason had become great friends.  He was a mixed martial arts master and damn impressive in a fight.  For months now, he’d been teaching Sarah how to fight and win in just about any situation.  He’d also been kind enough to squire her around Las Vegas to all his favorite watering holes.  It didn’t hurt that Sarah was so attractive he could get into any club in the city with her on his arm.

A tall handsome Arab man dressed in a silk Armani suit greeted Sarah, Jason and Will at the curb as they stepped out of the Rolls Royce.  They were all dressed to the nines, Armani being the suit of the day for Jason and Will too.  The greeter smiled slightly.  “Mr. Adamson, welcome to the Burj al Arab.  Your suite is ready.  If you will follow me.”  He turned and escorted them into the lobby.

Adamson was one of Will’s aliases.  What they were doing here was not sanctioned by the C.I.A. and, if they were lucky, the Agency would never find out about their plan to recapture their kidnapped leader who was being held somewhere in the Middle East.  They were all using aliases on this trip.  Sarah’s was Elisabetta Scuro, an Italian alias in honor of the recently deceased Angelo Scuro who not only died on their last mission but left Sarah his vast estate in Italy.

The hotel’s service was immediate and excellent but Sarah couldn’t help being annoyed at the time that was passing, precious seconds that meant the difference between life and death for Vince.  The flight to Dubai provided her with far too much time to think about what his captors might be doing to him.  She pushed the dark thoughts of Vince being tortured and beaten from her mind and tried to stay focused on the task at hand.

They were here to meet with Mark Davidson, an agent none of them had met, who had information on where Vince was being held.  Davidson’s contacts had found out about Vince’s kidnapping and he knew to contact Will at Sarah’s estate in Italy.  Sarah ran through the list of things they’d need to do before they could even begin planning an attack to get Vince back.  After they checked in to their suite at the hotel they’d make contact with Davidson, who was working under an official cover in U.S. State Department in Saudi Arabia, and then wait for their other teammates, Brian Allen and Chris Wilson to arrive in Dubai.  All of this meant more passing time.

Worries vanished from Sarah’s mind as she gasped at the overwhelming opulence of the Burj al Arab.  Massive golden columns encircled the lobby and reached toward the sweeping arches above.  The mesmerizing mosaic on the floor in deep blue, red and gold nearly stopped her in her tracks.  Sarah looked at Jason wide eyed.

Jason grinned and paused with Sarah while Will continued toward the elevator with their host.  “Shock and awe, eh, sweetcheeks?  This place makes Vegas look like a two bit whore.”

She grinned at Jason.  “Speaking of whores, did I tell you how fine you look in that suit?”

He smoothed the front of his jacket with his right hand and extended his left arm for her.  “I guess you won’t mind being seen with me then?”

“Not at all, handsome.”  She looped her right arm through his and they picked up their pace to meet Will and their host at the elevator.  Her Prada shoes tapped along the ornate marble floor as she took in the rich colors and happy international chatter coming from vacationers and businesspeople. 

Their host escorted them into a private elevator and they rode to the twenty-fifth floor of the all suite hotel.  Sarah held the rail tightly as they whisked fifty floors skyward.

Sarah tried to remain calm as she wondered about where Vince might be and took a long, deep breath as their host opened the door to their two-story suite.  On the other side of the glistening marble entryway was a marble and gold staircase covered with leopard print carpeting.  Being instantly enveloped in luxury while her mind swam in thoughts of the horrible things that could be happening to Vince overwhelmed her.  Sarah gripped Jason’s arm tightly to keep the only grip on reality she had.

He leaned close and smiled as he whispered to her.  “Any other time I’d love your manicured nails digging into my skin but the blood you draw today will ruin my Armani.”

Jason’s teasing was all Sarah needed to shock her back to reality.  This over-the-top extravagance was her life now.  Angelo had left her an enormous estate in Italy and more money than she’d ever dreamed of having.  Once Vince was free they’d leave the Agency and start enjoying it together.

Better start getting used to it now.

She retracted her claws and gave him an apologetic pout as she mouthed the words “I’m sorry”.

Freedom’s Promise, book #3 in the Task Force 125 series, is coming to Sapphire Blue Publishing, Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com and other ebook sellers in June 2010.  Read about the Task Force 125 series by Lisa Pietsch at www.LisaPietsch.com.

Like many romance readers, I love my alpha heroes. So when British editor Trisha Telep asked me to contribute a story to her anthology, The Mammoth Book of Special Ops Romance, my first reaction was yes!
My second reaction was SEAL. After having just returned from a visit to Coronado, California, where U.S. Navy SEALs undergo their basic training, I was brimming with admiration for these amazing special ops warriors.
The next question–where to set my tale–was almost as easy. The story called for romance, action, and adventure, and so I decided it should take place on one of the world’s most beautiful beaches. Ever heard of Phi Phi Don? You might remember the exotic Thai island from the Leonardo DiCaprio movie The Beach. I had the privilege of visiting this spectacular place as a backpacker long before it (and Leo) achieved super-stardom, and it truly is one of the most romantic spots you can imagine–white beaches, turquoise waters, emerald-green islands jutting straight out of the sea. What better place to set a love story? (Or in this case, a romantic thriller in which an American woman searching for her missing brother enlists a former SEAL’s help to snatch him out of the clutches of an international terrorist ring).
If you like romance, action, or simply reading about those adrenaline-seeking warriors who populate special ops teams, I hope you’ll check out SURRENDER AT DAWN, one of the many military romances in the mammoth-size Mammoth Book of Special Ops Romance that hits bookstores today. The collection contains twenty short stories from an array of romance authors, including Marliss Melton, Debra Webb, Shannon K. Butcher, and more.
To celebrate today, I’m giving away two prizes: a signed copy of the anthology, as well as my latest romantic suspense novel, Untraceable. For a chance to win, just drop me an email at laura@lauragriffin.com and put Mammoth Book in the subject line. Good luck and happy reading!

LAURA GRIFFIN is the RITA-nominated author of seven romantic suspense novels. Her titles include Whisper of Warning, Untraceable, and Unspeakable, which comes out June 29 from Pocket Books. Visit her Web site at www.lauragriffin.com.

At eighteen, I wrote my first novel. It was 400 pages of rambling that would probably never have seen the light of day, excerpt for the fact that I kept thinking about it. In fact, I thought about it for eighteen years. But that was all I did. Think. I had heard that making it “big” didn’t happen once you were over 40, so at 36 I decided to start trying in earnest. I paid an agent to read my entirely re-written book. Now – a disclaimer here – you should Never Ever pay an agent to read your work, but I didn’t know that then.

It came back with some broad comments about relating to today’s events and not using words the reader wasn’t likely to understand, such as “caff” for caffeine=coffee. It wasn’t till later that I met someone else who had also paid this person and discovered that he knew nothing about writing Science Fiction or how people who read it enjoy being dumped right into the middle of society and have to figure out what’s going on from context. He had turned out to be a scammer, and I was glad I’d dumped most of his comments and used only a few that made true sense.

However, by this time, I was close to 40. Terrified of being over the publishable hill, and fretting I would never make it. One day I was in a store and picked up a Romance book (which at that time, I never read because they were too formulaic). But I noticed the author was gray-haired and not a twenty-something or even a thirty-something. I started grabbing books at random and reading about the authors. All of them were women, averaging between 25 and 60. I remember thinking “Sixty! OMG that is so old!” Remember now, I was still on the going up side of the proverbial hill.

So I decided to look into writing Romance, because the biggest criticism of my SciFi was that it was too “touchy-feely”. I was told that SciFi was written to appeal to men. That was another whack in the head for me. “For men?” I checked the mirror. Yep, female. My mother loved SciFi. My sisters did. I had girlfriends who loved it. So why did publishers think it was “For men?”

I decided Right Then And There to ignore the you’re-too-old philosopy, and the SciFi-is-for-men stereotype and write what I wanted to write. I spent several years creating a background for my writing, building a universe that would enable to me to play in any part of the galaxy I wanted. I found a quote by Oliver Wendell Holmes: “Don’t die with the music still in you.” For me, it was the “books still in me.”

Reading everything I could find on how to write, what to do, where to go, how to “get your name out there” helped me persevere. I submitted two short stories; both were rejected but returned with critiques. I once said I’d never been rejected, but I’d completely spaced those when I said it. One of those two stories later won Honorable Mention in a Reader’s Digest national contest, and was in the top 100 of over 1000 entries, at #33. I felt vindicated. I was 40.

It took me a few years to get over my fear of rejection, my fear of success, and my tendency to say “I’ll write a book once ______.” (fill in the blank) We bought a house, my daughter got married, and my youngest son was in high school. Within a few years, I’d have an empty nest. Then what excuse would I have for not writing?

I joined an online critique group in Dec 2003 http://groups.yahoo.com/group/para-rom-crit-2/ and began submitting chapters of a book. There, I had the honor of meeting Barbara Karmazin, a published writer of truly alien SciFi Romance. Once she saw I’d listen to her advice, she mentored me, and boy did I ever listen. She introduced me to her publisher, Liquid Silver Books, and by April, I had sold my first book. I was 53 that year. I’ve been writing for six years now. So, far from being old at 60 (which I will be in 2011) I am just beginning my career. I feel more alive and vital than I have at any prior point, other than when my children were small. (I had all three within four years and was constantly on the go.)

 

The Nizamrak Building by Jamin Allen

assisting diploma at 60, next year. Oh, one more little detail, not completely off topic. To honor my friend Barbara Karmazin (may she live forever) I named the central point in many of my stories The Nizamrak Building. It’s her last name backward. Here’s a picture of it drawn by my artistic son, Jamin. Three of his pictures were entered in the P&E Reader’s Poll this year and all three ended up in the top 10. This was #six.

It’s never too late to start being who you want to be.

Things are changing.  Fast.  3 April the iPad will be launched.  The parameters of the iBookstore are known by only a few.  Kindle will be doubling royalties come the end of June, BUT, only for titles priced under $10.  Fictionwise has gone from requiring ten titles to requiring 25 titles and 5 different authors.

What’s a writer to do?  Well, the way to go is still traditional publishing.  Latest book just came out this past week:  Wild Ride and we just found out yesterday it hit the NY Times list on its first week, which is nice.  But there are other options. So here’s an example of something we created just two months ago from nothing.

What is Who Dares Wins Publishing?

An independent Flex Publishing company specializing in military fiction and non-fiction, and narrative military non-fiction, especially authors who have rights reversion on their backlist. We consider new authors in Special Operations fiction and those interested in writing episodes for one of our series.

We publish Series Special Operations fiction and Military Science Fiction falling under the “season” and “episode” model.  Series fiction premieres with a pilot at approximately 20K word count with each additional episode at 10k word count.  We have established Series Lines and are looking to increase series options for our readers.

We want to give authors the opportunity to publish their backlist in both ebook and POD form without the cost and time intensive of creating and preparing manuscripts for upload and conversions to various ebook formats and ebook readers.  We provide our authors with cover art and will create a Print on Demand book that will be distributed on websites such as Amazon and Barnes and Noble and available via Ingram to brick and mortar bookstores.  Also, the author can purchase trade paperback versions of their book to hand-sell at discount, with us handling the orders and shipping.  We charge no fees and work with you to earn a profit via royalties.  If you don’t make a profit, we don’t.

Flex Publishing:  Authors are the producer of the product.  Readers are the consumer of the product.  Who Dares Wins Publishing offers a non-traditional option for authors to get their work to the readers.  The key is to build synergy in the brand among all the authors, each helping the others.  The bottom line that will make Flex Publishing a success is TEAM-WORK.  Authors who write similar material working together to promote each other.

As the publishing world undergoes some major growing pains, many authors are feeling the crunch and in many cases, being pushed right out of publishing.  Traditional publishers want authors to become a brand in themselves.  Many big names have, but most authors are struggling to even find a single slot on a bookshelf.  The day of the advance is coming to an end for many mid-list authors and nearly impossible for the new author.

Technology has provided readers with new options for enjoying the written word.  However, traditional publishers have not embraced the new technology and while the publishers are trying to figure out how to save their crumbling empire, reader demands are changing and it’s the readers who authors need to reach.

Who Dares Wins Publishing has been created with authors and readers in mind.  Our goal is to connect our author with their readers.  We realize we can’t compete with the Big NY houses as we don’t have their distribution abilities.  However, the distribution channels are quickly changing as well.  More and more readers today are buying their books differently as well as reading them differently.  Amazon is an online store.  There is no Amazon on your street corner, yet Amazon is one of the leaders in both the physical book market and the ebook market.  Barnes and Noble might be in your town, but with the addition of Fictionwise (ebook online store recently purchased by Barnes and Noble) and Barnes and Noble’s new ebook reader The Nook, even their sales are changing, leaning toward online sales.  The introduction of the iPad and Apple’s online digital bookstore will do for publishing what iTunes did for music.

Who Dares Wins Publishing currently cannot get physical books into your local bookstore unless they are ordered via Ingram (Lightning Press- a pull rather than push system).  However, we can get out POD’s to the major on-line bookstores and make ebooks available through major on-line ebook stores and support each ereader.  Ultimately, we want to get our books to our readers.

Anyway.  I predict a lot of similar start-ups in publishing across an area of areas.  I believe military has a better chance at succeeding because we know the value of working as a team.

Also, my new book Warrior Writer: From Writer to Published Author just came out and I’m really happy with it.  I recommend everyone who wants to write, start putting together their own writing book.  Just write down everything you know right now and then keep adding to it.  A similar concept is to write a book using your blog.  We invest a lot of time into blogging, if you can find an interesting topic reference your platform, schedule out the blog like chapters.  Just a thought.

www.WhoDaresWinsPublishing.com

Captain NarrAy Jorlan, Senth Antonello, and ... the Harbinger

Something I learned about marketing myself and my books is to never make the reader have to look for me. In our instant society we snap our fingers at the microwave and say “hurry up!” LOL Whenever I email anyone or post online, I always have links to books or chats, or whatever I’m discussing. Readers like to click on a link and find things without hunting for them.

I just did a twelve-day treasure hunt with my Edge of Peril group (20 hard core fans) and they absolutely loved finding the details. Everyone who took part in the quiz at the end got the questions 100% right. They are already hooked, and enjoyed the search. New readers might do that for a contest, but if you send them to your home page and they have to click and hunt through tabs to find the book you’re promoting, you may lose them by the second or third click. Remember, writing is our lifeblood, but it’s also a business.

On my Romance Lives Forever group, I host author chats several times a month. You wouldn’t believe how many post an excerpt and give only the name of the book. No publisher info, no author name (their email isn’t always Suzy-Author-Jones, but may be (making one up) spudchef4835, or their husband’s name because they haven’t made an email for their pen name – providing no clue who they are. Some don’t provide links to their books, either. This is like telling a buyer you have a house for sale in Chicago, and expecting them to hunt it down. *buzzer sounds*

I give the reader everything they need to make a decision and find my book. I have higher sales, and when people hit those pages they find exactly what I want them to find.

Here’s a sample I created for the book that came out this week *dances* at Loose Id. I paste this only at the end of promo excerpts.

Antonello Brothers 1: At the Mercy of Her Pleasure (a Tarthian Empire
Book)
Available at Loose Id
http://www.loose-id.com/At-the-Mercy-of-Her-Pleasure.aspx
ISBN 978-1-60737-552-4
Format: ebook in multiple formats
Genre: Erotic Science Fiction Romance, Action Adventure, Younger Hero
Older Heroine
Heat level: R=explicit sex
Editor: Heather Hollis
Cover Artist: Anne Cain
Warnings: This book is a substantially re-edited, revised edition previously released by another publisher, and contains explicit sexual content, graphic language, and situations that some readers may find objectionable: Anal play, dubious consent, menage (m/f/m), reference to rape offscreen.
Author website: http://kayelleallen.com
Author email: kayelle @ kayelleallen .com

I sign my name, give my tag, and links to important places such as another book, my yahoo group, or my blog.

The purpose of hanging out on groups is not *only* to chit chat, though that’s important. Readers are often impulse buyers. That’s why bookstores put genres together, so people interested in one author will find others who write the same thing, and pick up more books. Prepare your readers for that impulse buy. Never just sign your name. Readers will become accustomed to seeing your signature and recognize you by it. It’s not vanity to use a full signature, and it’s not mercenary. It’s business.

When I first started writing, my fabulous mentor Candace Irvin said go to the bookstore and figure out what you’re like. You need to know the market before you can start to see where you fit.

So I went. I read Joann Ross, Cindy Gerard, Suzanne Brockmann, Marliss Melton and others. I read Robyn Carr after Roxanne St Claire said maybe you’re more like her. After all, I’ve got military heroes, I’ve got to be like one of these great ladies, right?

Oh how wrong I was. Here’s the problem and its not one I’m sure I can overcome. I’m not romantic suspense. So my War’s Darkest Series is not like Suzanne Brockmann’s Seal Team series where there’s a cast of eight or so strapping men to pick a story from. None of my characters are Special Operations Forces.

My characters are also not prior military like Robyn Carr’s heros, who have all gotten out and headed up country to Virgin River, hoping to find a new life away from their military experiences. My guys are the Everyman, my women spouses, nurses and warriors themselves. No Special Forces, Navy Seals or Black Ops. Just regular soldiers, fighting the good fight.

So my books don’t fit. They aren’t small town based like Robyn’s and they’re not suspense like Joann, Cindy or Suzanne. In short, there’s nothing out there that I can compare to because everyone has either written prior military characters or Navy Seals.

When I wrote military romance in a query letter, little did I know I was speaking in code for romantic suspense. When agents are reading it, they’re looking for suspense. Fast pacing, action, action, romance, action. And that’s not what I wrote. I wrote a character based, contemporary romance with men and women who are all still in the military. I wrote books that were not suspense except that by putting military in the query, I was telling agents that’s what they were.

I screwed myself, apparently. I feel like when I sent out this last round of queries, I should have put in big bold letters, THIS IS NOT ROMANTIC SUSPENSE. I don’t know that it would have helped. I’m reasonably certain there are other issues in my current WIP but I’m also reasonably certain that the main problem agents are seeing is that they’re reading for romantic suspense and putting the book down when it doesn’t live up their expectations, wrong or not.

So, bluntly, I think I’m screwed. How do you pitch a book that doesn’t fit into a nice neat genre? Especially in this market? You can pitch to your hearts content but if you can’t get past the gatekeepers, you can’t get sold. I’m not complaining about agents, mind you. I’m simply stating that I think I pitched my books wrong to the fabulous agents who asked for the full manuscript and ultimately passed with great comments.

So that’s the end of this, for now. I’m revising once more because I’ve got a song in my head that is making me work on this book, even though I’m pretty sure it’s a dead end. I’ve learned a lot, but the one thing I don’t know how to fix is how to query the next project correctly. Maybe I’ll put in the query: this is not suspense.

Maybe not.

Jessica Scott writes for PBS POV Regarding War and is hard at work on her next novel. She recently returned from Iraq with the First Cavalry Division. You can read about her adventures in publishing and the Army at her blog http://www.jessicascott.net/blog

I may be a writer about those amazing Navy SEALs during the day, but every Tuesday afternoon I become a Girl Scout leader. A few years ago, one of my Brownie’s father went to Iraq and we sent him Girl Scout cookies. Since then our girls have challenged themselves every year to send more cookies to our soldiers overseas. Here’s a note from a brother of one of the girls we sent cookies to, and is in Iraq right now:

“Thank you so very much to all girls in your troop! Me and my platoon buddies all enjoyed receiving the cookies that you all sent us. My favorite were the peanut butter patties. We really appreciate and are thankful for your support, there is nothing like knowing that the people back home care, especially when you don’t know all of them.”

PFC. Nathan

And you can help, too! Right now we’re taking donations to send cookies to our soldiers – we’re calling it Troops for Troops! What’s even better, it’s totally tax deducible. A box is $3.50 and a case is $42.00 – and all money is welcome!

If you’d like to donate contact kkloman@aol.com We’re hoping to make the next March 21st mailing – thank you so much in advance!

If you’d like cookies for yourself, you can easily find a troop in your area by going to: http://www.girlscoutcookies.org/

My favorite is thin mints!

Jill Monroe writes sexy Harlequins and can be found at www.jillmonroe.com

We are the new kids on the block and we have attitude but we back it up with years of inside information collected from both sides of the publishing table. Our sole purpose is to introduce books that make a statement with their unique voice, strong plot lines, and complex, well developed characters. At Accomplice Press our excellence shines through in the tiny details and this produces polished literary works.

After doing extensive research we know what the readers want and we are going to give it to them without worrying about selling millions of copies out of some mammoth warehouse. We are an independent, boutique style publisher and our focus is on the skilled authors and their target audiences, you the readers. The Partners at AP have decided to launch a series of specialty lines to answer the growing demand for something innovative and new. Curvalicious is our first endeavor and it will be a romance line spotlighting plus-size heroines but their size will not be the focus of the plot line. As publishers and women we feel that there are countless romance lovers who don’t see real life females, like themselves, portrayed in the books they read. We plan to change that with this specialty romance series.

Curvalicious women are voluptuous, beautiful, strong, sexy and intelligent. These inspirational main characters will always get the man of their dreams without losing weight or changing who they are on the outside. Romance is all about fantasy; our stories will keep the home fires burning even on the coldest night of the year. We are offering two different heat levels for our reader’s pleasure. Curvalicious Sweet is romance with sweet or sensual love scenes, but no explicit language or sex and Curvalicious Spicy is erotic romance containing explicit language and sex scenes. The stories will be available in e-book format with periodic print anthologies.

Accomplice Press is shaking up the publishing world one book at a time and you can be part of the revolution. We are holding a Curvalicious writing competition which began on Valentine’s Day and ends at midnight on May 14, 2010. We’ll be accepting stories for both Sweet and Spicy heat levels and on May 28, 2010 two winning entries will be contracted to be published in ebook format. The top three submissions of each category will also be included in the first Curvalicious print anthology. The specific guidelines for Sweet and Spicy submissions, word count and formatting requirements are all available at our website accomplicepress.com. All contest entries must be sent to curvecontest@accomplicepress.com. We are also holding an “open call” to all authors, so this is the perfect time to submit that manuscript you have written. Just remember Accomplice Press is NOT a self-publishing company.

It is an exciting time at Accomplice Press and we will be releasing more lines as the year progresses. There will be Silver Sirens, which will be romance about female characters over the age of 40, a Young Adult line called Fierce and a line dedicated to “men in Uniform”. Please check out accomplicepress.com for more information. Also we will be attending Romconinc.com in Denver this July, please look for us there.

Good luck authors!
Karen Jones
Public Relations Manager for Accomplice Press

In 2004, I began writing a novel about a lieutenant in the fictional APLA – All People’s Liberation Army. Since I’d been in the Navy, I knew the basic ranks there. I’d seen enough Star Trek episodes to know Navy ranks were used on the Enterprise. That was good enough for me.

The book was rocking right along, and I was more than halfway finished. I mentioned at dinner one night that I was using Navy ranks for the officers aboard the ship.

Did I mention that I have a rather opinionated son who happened to be in Junior ROTC – USAF?

My youngest son Joel is a stickler for details. He held a perfect score in ROTC, and was the pride of the colonel who taught the class.  

Joel informed me that the Air Force is in charge of the air, and by extension space, Star Trek notwithstanding. He suggested I change the ranks of my officers and offered to help with the conversion. We made them close approximations fitting with the work they perfomed.

My lieutenant became a captain. The character once designated captain now became a colonel (and in later books, a General). Joel gave me a print out of Air Force ranks to use for reference, and is still (six years later and post USAF service) my go-to guy on anything related to the military when I don’t know myself, or can’t ask a fellow member of RomVets or one of the authors here. Now you know how the APLA ended up with its current ranking system.

The book was At the Mercy of Her Pleasure, which is being rereleased 3/23/10 at Loose Id.